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Archives for May 2014

Poll: Who Should The Astros Take With The First Pick?

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We’re less than two weeks away from the June amateur draft, and there still isn’t consensus about who the Astros will take with the first overall pick. That’s not surprising, since there isn’t a clear No. 1 overall talent. “There’s not a [Gerrit] Cole, in our minds. There’s not a [Stephen] Strasburg, in our minds,” as Pirates GM Neal Huntington put it yesterday. John Manuel of Baseball America recently quoted an executive saying, “It just seems like there isn’t a $6 million player in this draft,” which means the Astros’ task will be a tricky one.

It’s always better to have an earlier pick than a later one, of course. But compared to, say, 2010, when the Nationals took Bryce Harper first overall, 2014 seems to be a worse year to have the top pick, and a better year to have a lower pick.

Many recent mock drafts have suggested the Astros will take either California high school lefty Brady Aiken or NC State lefty Carlos Rodon first overall, but the Astros also invited Texas high school righty Tyler Kolek to a pre-draft workout.

Aiken has added velocity and now throws in the mid-90s. He also has an outstanding curveball and could have excellent control, and he has an easy delivery. Kolek can throw 100 MPH and potentially has a good slider, although his command lags behind Aiken’s. In the cases of both Aiken and Kolek, stock disclaimers about high school pitchers apply.

Rodon entered the college season as the clear favorite to be the No. 1 pick, but he has not been as dominant as expected this season for NC State. Manuel quotes an executive even wondering whether Rodon will be a starter in the long term. There is, perhaps, a comparison to be made to Cole, who also failed to dominate in the season before he was drafted No. 1 overall, but Manuel points out that Cole’s stuff was outstanding that year, whereas Rodon’s hasn’t been consistent. Rodon does, however, still have an outstanding slider.

Earlier today, Peter Gammons quoted an executive guessing that the Astros could also consider California high school C/OF Alex Jackson. “Many of the Astros’ people believe that picking a pitcher at the top is a gamble because of the historical predictability of pitchers,” the executive said. Gammons notes that the Astros did pick Mark Appel with the top spot last year. But if there’s ever a year to question gambling on pitchers, this might be it — not only is there not a consensus No. 1, but it’s also been a rough year for big-league pitchers and for former top draftees in the minors, like Appel and Jameson Taillon. Jackson is the consensus top hitting prospect in the draft.

In a draft where little is certain, LSU righty Aaron Nola could represent another possibility. Unlike some of the other top pitching prospects, he doesn’t look like a prototypical ace — he’s just a little bit undersized, and his stuff isn’t as outstanding. But he’s performed very well this year and he should get to the majors relatively quickly, and he might be a good candidate to take first overall if the Astros decide to save a bit of money against their bonus pool to spend on later picks. That’s what they did in 2012, when Appel and Byron Buxton were the consensus top picks, and the Astros instead took Carlos Correa, then used the savings to sign Lance McCullers Jr. and Rio Ruiz later in the draft.

With all that in mind, who do you think the Astros should take with the first overall pick?

Quick Hits: Blanks, Despaigne, Collins, Syndergaard

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Monday was Kyle Blanks’ first home game as a member of the Athletics, perhaps finally ending a very long stretch of suitcase living, Joe Stiglich of CSNBayArea.com writes. When Blanks was playing for Triple-A El Paso at the start of the season, there was construction at El Paso’s stadium, so the team played on the road. Then he got promoted to the Padres, where he lived in a hotel. Then he got traded to the A’s right at the beginning of a road trip to Cleveland, Tampa and Toronto. “In El Paso, we were on the road for 25 days and then came home,” Blanks says. “Then I went up to San Diego, so I’ve been everywhere. I’m just trying to decompress and take a deep breath.” Here are more notes from around the big leagues.

  • The Padres have promoted Cuban pitcher Odrisamer Despaigne, who they signed in early May, to Triple-A El Paso, according to MiLB.com. Despaigne was impressive in two starts for Double-A San Antonio, posting a 1.17 ERA while striking out 12 batters and walking five in 7 2/3 innings.
  • Despite the Mets’ recent release of Jose Valverde and firing of hitting coach Dave Hudgens, manager Terry Collins is “in no danger,” Andy Martino of the New York Daily News tweets. Collins received a two-year extension at the end of last season.
  • Mets top prospect Noah Syndergaard has been placed on the disabled list with an elbow injury, Adam Rubin of ESPN New York notes. The Mets say they believe the injury is “mild,” but Syndergaard is headed to New York for further examination. Syndergaard, 21, was a key part of the R.A. Dickey trade following the 2012 season. He currently has a 4.02 ERA with 9.6 K/9 and 3.2 BB/9 in 53 2/3 innings for Triple-A Las Vegas.

Minor Moves: Loe, Dolis, Rodriguez, Williams

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Here are today’s minor transactions, with the newest moves at the top of the post…

  • The Braves have signed pitcher Kameron Loe to a minor-league deal, MLB Daily Dish’s Chris Cotillo tweets. The Royals released Loe late last week. He had pitched 11 innings for Triple-A Omaha, whiffing four batters and walking seven. The former Rangers, Brewers, Mariners, Cubs and Braves pitcher threw 76 2/3 innings for the Braves’ Triple-A team in Gwinnett in 2013, posting a 3.07 ERA with 4.4 K/9 and 2.0 BB/9.
  • The Giants released right-hander Rafael Dolis, Baseball America’s Matt Eddy reports.  Dolis was a non-roster invitee to San Francisco’s Spring Training camp and he badly struggled (8 ER in 4 1/3 IP) in a brief stint with Triple-A Fresno.  The 26-year-old righty posted a 5.48 ERA and recorded more walks (26) than strikeouts (25) over 44 1/3 relief innings with the Cubs from 2011-13.
  • Veteran catcher Eddy Rodriguez signed a coaching contract in the Red Sox organization, Rodriguez announced himself earlier this week via Twitter.  The University of Miami product spent nine years in pro baseball with the Reds, Padres and Rays, slashing .235/.286/.386 in 2271 minor league PA.  He appeared in two Major League games with San Diego in 2012 and his only big league hit (in seven PA) was a solo home run.  Rodriguez was released by the Rays earlier this month.
  • The Phillies acquired outfielder Everett Williams from the Diamondbacks in exchange for cash considerations earlier this week, Eddy reports.  Williams was picked by San Diego in the second round of the 2009 draft and has a .249/.314/.356 line over 1322 minor league PA, none higher than the Double-A level.
  • The Rays signed righty Casey Weathers to a minor league contract, Eddy reports.  The eighth overall pick of the 2007 draft, Weathers was once considered to be a strong prospect in the Rockies’ system before he missed the entire 2009 season recovering from Tommy John surgery.  He has struggled to regain his form since, and didn’t pitch at any level in 2013.  Weathers signed a minors deal with the Giants last December but was released in March.

Charlie Wilmoth contributed to this post.

Mets Release Jose Valverde, Fire Hitting Coach

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The Mets have released Jose Valverde and fired hitting coach Dave Hudgens, ESPN New York’s Adam Rubin reports (Twitter links). Vic Black is expected to replace Valverde on the Mets’ active roster, Mike Puma of the New York Post tweets. Hudgens will be replaced by minor-league hitting coordinator Lamar Johnson.

Valverde allowed four runs while blowing a save in the Mets’ 5-3 loss to the Pirates Monday. He had a 5.66 ERA with 23 strikeouts and 10 walks in 20 2/3 innings this season after the Mets signed him to a minor-league deal in February. The 36-year-old has also pitched for the Diamondbacks, Astros and Tigers in his 12-year big-league career, racking up 288 saves. His career began heading downhill with the Tigers in 2012, and he posted a 5.59 ERA in 19 1/3 innings before being released by Detroit last season. His fastball has lost velocity over the years, falling from 95.8 MPH in 2009 to 92.8 MPH in 2013 and 2014.

Hudgens had served as the Mets’ hitting coach since 2011. The Mets’ offense currently ranks 10th in the National League in runs scored and has endured poor seasons from Ruben Tejada and Lucas Duda, as well as disappointing performances from newcomers Curtis Granderson and Chris Young.

NL Notes: Taveras, Cardinals, Padres, Davis

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The Cardinals are currently determining how to find big-league playing time for top outfield prospect Oscar Taveras, Joe Strauss of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch writes. “I actually think from a baseball standpoint he could play in the big leagues,” says GM John Mozeliak. “But we’ve got to determine playing time up here with the current roster. Are we at a point where we’re willing to take away at-bats from the current roster and give them to somebody else?” If the Cardinals were to promote Taveras to play regularly, they would have less playing time for some combination of Allen Craig, Matt Adams, Peter Bourjos and Jon Jay. Taveras is currently hitting .319/.369/.527 in 198 plate appearances for Triple-A Memphis. Here are more notes from the National League.

  • While the Cardinals don’t have playing time for their Triple-A outfield talent right now, Strauss writes that they simply don’t have as much Triple-A pitching talent as they’ve had in recent years. Of course, that’s mostly because they’ve graduated so many talented pitchers in the past few seasons, including Michael Wacha, Shelby Miller, Carlos Martinez, Trevor Rosenthal, Kevin Siegrist, and Seth Maness. If the Cardinals want to add another strong pitching option this season, Strauss argues, they’ll have to do it via a trade.
  • There are rumors that the Padres could fire manager Bud Black, but Tom Krasovic of the San Diego Union-Tribune suggests that it might be worth remembering GM Josh Byrnes’ history firing his manager when he was the GM of the Diamondbacks. In 2009, Byrnes fired Bob Melvin and replaced him with A.J. Hinch. Melvin had a terrific third act as manager of the Athletics, and both Byrnes and Hinch were fired a little more than a year later. Like Byrnes, Hinch is now in the Padres’ front office.
  • Now that first baseman Ike Davis is hitting, life with the Pirates is different than it was with the Mets, MLB.com’s Tim Healey reports. “Going to get coffee, I don’t get hitting tips,” says Davis. “I don’t know if that’s a good or bad thing. But I don’t need to think about my stance at 9 in the morning.” Davis is back in New York as the Pirates play at Citi Field this week.

Brewers Outright Jeff Bianchi

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MONDAY: The Brewers have announced that Bianchi has accepted his outright assignment. He will report to Triple-A Nashville.

SATURDAY: The Brewers have outrighted infielder Jeff Bianchi to Triple-A Nashville, Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel tweets. It’s unclear whether Bianchi will accept his assignment.

Bianchi, 27, has hit .145/.172/.145 in 58 plate appearances while playing second, third and shortstop for the Brewers this season. He has a career batting line of .214/.249/.281 in 386 career plate appearances, most of them coming in 2013. He came up through the Royals system, but was claimed by the Cubs and then the Brewers in the 2011-2012 offseason.

AL Notes: Rangers, Tigers, Red Sox

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It would make sense for the Rangers to sign free agent Kendrys Morales, Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News writes. With injuries to Prince Fielder and Matt Harrison, the Rangers should be able to recoup enough from their insurance policies that they have money to sign Morales. Also, Grant argues that Morales could end up being worth more to the Rangers than the No. 30 overall draft pick they would lose if they signed him prior to the draft. Even if the Rangers’ season fell apart, they could trade Morales later. And by signing Morales now, the Rangers would avoid having to bid against others once the draft passed. Here are more notes from the American League.

  • The Rangers’ injuries may have already turned their season into “a lost cause,” Jeff Sullivan writes for Fangraphs’ series at FOX Sports. While it’s easy to overstate the impact of one injury, the Rangers have had so many injuries to so many important players that the impact is clearly significant. Signing Morales would seem to make sense for the Rangers, but they could decide that the injuries have already hurt so much that signing him isn’t worth it right now, particularly given the draft-pick issue.
  • The Tigers will likely try to re-sign Victor Martinez this offseason, and they also could try to re-sign Joba Chamberlain if he continues to contribute, Chris Iott of MLive.com writes. Max Scherzer, of course, is a top free agent and is likely to sign elsewhere.
  • It’s too early in the season for GM Ben Cherington to be able to use the trade market to effectively upgrade a Red Sox squad that has lost ten straight games, Michael Silverman of the Boston Herald writes. Nonetheless, Cherington says, “At some point if production is not there, you have to think about changes.” He continues, “We have to find ways to improve across the board. Some of that is going to happen just naturally with the guys we have here.”

Draft Notes: Astros, Huntington, Rodon

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We’re under two weeks away from the first round of the 2014 amateur draft, which kicks off on June 5.  Here’s a collection of draft-related info…

  • “No one knows what the Astros are going to do with the first pick,” an executive from a team with a top-six draft pick tells Peter Gammons.  Another rival executive feels Houston may not take Carlos Rodon first since “many of the Astros people believe that picking a pitcher at the top is a gamble because of the historical predictability of pitchers.” (Though of course, the ’Stros took Mark Appel last year).  The exec feels the Astros are “looking…closely” at high school outfielder Alex Jackson, and if Houston passes on Jackson, the Marlins also like him a lot as the potential second overall pick.  Miami is favored to draft a hitter due to the number of pitching prospects in their system but “they love [Tyler] Kolek and it would be hard to pass on Rodon,” Gammons writes.
  • Also from Gammons’ wide-ranging column, he polls executives about which teams had the best drafts of the last decade, and also muses about there would be much more casual fan interest in the draft if picks could be traded.
  • Pirates GM Neal Huntington feels that a deep selection of talent is available, write Charlie Wilmoth and David Manel of Bucs Dugout. Huntington also addresses the pressure to select local players and how the Bucs are adjusting to picking near the end of the first round rather than with an early selection.
  • If Rodon does go first overall, it doesn’t seem like the Astros would give him a record bonus simply because of how the draft’s rules have changed, Baseball America’s John Manuel writes.  Scott Boras (Rodon’s adviser) argues that MLB should alter the draft format since the current rules hurt teams at the Major League level; the agent suggests such changes as not subjecting first-round contracts to the salary allotment cap or not taking away a team’s first round pick for signing free agents.

Pirates Designate Vin Mazzaro For Assignment

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The Pirates have designated right-hander Vin Mazzaro for assignment, the team announced.  Righty Brandon Cumpton has been called up from Triple-A in a corresponding move.

This is the second time that Mazzaro has been designated for assignment this season, as the reliever was previously DFA’ed at the end of Spring Training.  He cleared waivers and accepted an outright assignment to Triple-A rather than become a free agent in April.

All these transactions may have more to do with a roster crunch than a commentary on Mazzaro’s performance, as the righty was a big part of the Pittsburgh bullpen in 2013.  He posted a 2.81 ERA, 2.19 K/BB rate and 5.6 K/9 in 73 2/3 IP last season and was very effective against both right-handed and left-handed hitters.  Mazzaro had a 3.48 ERA in 10 1/3 innings for the Bucs this season, plus 10 2/3 scoreless innings at Triple-A Indianapolis.  As a first-time arbitration eligible player last winter, Mazzaro and the Pirates avoided a hearing by agreeing to a one-year, $950K deal for 2014.

Mazzaro joins two other Pirates (Wandy Rodriguez and Phil Irwin) in DFA Limbo according to the MLB Trade Rumors DFA Tracker.  Padres right-handers Blaine Boyer and Billy Buckner are the only two other players currently in limbo.

Blue Jays Acquire P.J. Walters, Melky Mesa

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The Blue Jays have acquired right-hander P.J. Walters and outfielder Melky Mesa from the Royals in exchange for cash considerations, Andy McCullough of the Kansas City Star reports (Twitter link).  Both players had been playing with the Royals’ Triple-A affiliate after signing minor league deals in the offseason, and Walters and Mesa will likely also serve as organization depth for Toronto.

Walters, 29, had a brief stint in the Jays organization in 2011 when he came to Toronto from the Cardinals as part of the Colby Rasmus trade package.  The righty pitched only one Major League inning as a Blue Jay before becoming a free agent that winter.  Walters posted a 5.79 ERA, 5.7 K/9 and a 1.6 K/BB rate over 22 starts (for a -1.2 bWAR) with the Twins in 2012-13 and he also struggled with Triple-A Omaha this year, only managing a 7.97 ERA in 40 2/3 innings.

Mesa, conversely, had been enjoying a nice year in Omaha, slashing .284/.346/.527 with five homers over 81 PA.  The 27-year-old has a career .754 OPS over 2892 minor league plate appearances since debuting in the Yankees’ farm system in 2006.  Mesa has 16 Major League PA to his name (with New York in 2012-13) and made the most of them, posting a .971 OPS in his brief time in the Show.

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